Supper
The late, light meal: the last gathering of the day and the vigil meal.
Supper is the late or light meal: the last gathering of the day, the meal after a vigil, or the one that closes a fast. The customs here are about timing and company, not recipes. For dishes, see Thali.
The last gathering
In many households supper is a quieter meal than dinner, taken close to bedtime and often at home even where dinner is eaten out. Some traditions give it a ritual role: the meal after a midnight service, the Christmas Eve supper laid with an extra place, the Sabbath evening meal begun with a blessing over the table.
Vigil and night meals
Night-time meals are tied to wakes, festivals and the end of daily fasts. They are kept with their own rules about who is invited, what is said, and when the table is cleared.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Supper (meal). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreMaslenitsaМасленица
A seven-day Eastern Slavic festival of pancakes and bonfires marking the end of winter before Lent.Festival · Breakfast
🇺🇦 Kyiv, UkraineChristmas in UkraineРіздво (Rizdvo)
A Ukrainian Christmas celebration with a twelve-dish vegan supper on Christmas Eve and observance on January 6 or DecembFestival · Supper
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreBurns supperBurns Nicht
A Scottish celebratory meal of haggis, poetry and toasts in honour of Robert BurnsFestival · Dinner
🇫🇷 France and 5 moreRéveillon
A luxurious late-night feast that stretches until dawn across the winter holidaysTable custom · Dinner
🇺🇸 United StatesPotluck
A shared meal where every guest brings a dish, kept by churches, clubs and neighborsTable custom · Dinner
🇷🇺 Moscow, RussiaChristmas in RussiaРождество Христово
An Orthodox winter feast marked by church vigils, fasting suppers and festive mealsSpiritual · Supper
🇻🇳 Hanoi, Vietnam and 5 morePhophở
A Vietnamese noodle soup of broth and rice noodles, served hot with beef or chicken.Table custom · Breakfast
🇵🇷 Puerto Rico and 1 moreParranda
A Puerto Rican Christmas custom of night-time visits with songs, food and drinkPerformance · Supper
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreHarvest festival
A thanks for the gathered crop, kept with church meals, songs and shared foodSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇦 Chernivtsi, Ukraine and 3 moreMalankaМаланка
A Ukrainian folk celebration of masked mummers, feasting and New Year blessingsFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇷 GreeceMagiritsaΜαγειρίτσα
A Greek lamb offal soup eaten after the midnight Easter service to break the fastTable custom · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreAsh WednesdayDies Cinerum
A solemn Christian holy day of prayer, fasting, and the placing of ashesSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇮🇶 IraqShabbat mealsסעודות שבת
Three ritual meals eaten across the Jewish Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday nightTable custom · Dinner
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 1 moreHoshana Rabbahהוֹשַׁעְנָא רַבָּה
The seventh and final day of Sukkot, marked by seven synagogue processions and night-long study.Festival · Dinner
🇬🇧 United KingdomHarvest Festival
An autumn thanksgiving for the crops, kept in churches and schools across the UKSeasonal · Supper
🇮🇱 Safed, Israel and 2 moreZemirotזמירות
Jewish table hymns sung during the three meals of Shabbat and holidaysSpiritual · Dinner
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Christmas in Ukraine: Halyna Kuchmanych, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Zemirot: ביקורת, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Shabbat meals: Yoninah, Public domain, source
- Maslenitsa: Лобачев Владимир, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Burns supper: Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Malanka: Viktoriyasechkar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Magiritsa: Andrew Dalby, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ash Wednesday: Oxh973, Public domain, source
- Christmas in Russia: Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Harvest Festival: Derek Harper, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Pho: Phương Huy, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Parranda: Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Harvest festival: High Contrast, CC BY 3.0 de, source
- Hoshana Rabbah: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Potluck: Mack Male, CC BY-SA 2.0, source